Friday, we feature a chef’s recipe. Special thanks to the guys over at Little Bitty Burger Barn for this week’s contribution!
Little Bitty Burger Barn was recently nominated by My Table Magazine in the Houston Culinary Awards for the Best Burger category. Please check out the site and cast your vote today!
Sliders are not that much of a big deal if you’re organized and ready to go before you start cooking. The French Culinary term is have your “mise en place” ready or have your ingredients in place. The basic ingredients for sliders are simple: ground beef, white onions, butter, salt & pepper, and a good little bun. You will also need a good griddle to toast your buns on, a sauté pan, and a small stainless steel bowl.
Ingredients
-1 ½ lbs 80/20 ground beef
-1 medium white onion
-16 ea slider buns
-2 tbsp unsalted butter
-salt & pepper to taste
-2 small sheets of wax paper
Yield: 16 sliders
Directions
1. Slice buns and butter both sides toast on griddle until lightly toasted, set aside. Keep warm.
2. Cut onion into a small dice. Heat sauté pan over a medium flame/heat and add chopped onions and 1 table spoon butter. Slowly stir onions and butter and mix thoroughly, continue stirring occasionally until lightly caramelized. Remove from heat and place cooked onions in a small stainless steel bowl, set aside. Keep warm.
3. Weigh out ground beef into 1.5 oz portions and form into a ball, like a meatball. Press slider meat into small patties by pressing down on them between to pieces of wax paper. You can use the bottom of a stainless steel bowl to press out the slider patties. Heat a clean sauté pan over a medium heat and place patties making sure not to over crowd, season to taste. Brown slider patties until desired doneness is reached.
4. To assemble place bottom of slider buns on plate, add a slider patty, spoon onions on top and top with top bun.
5. Here comes the fun part, you can make these your very own. Add grated cheese, and fresh chopped jalapenos to the ground beef? How about bacon and cheese? How about chipotle peppers and cilantro? Mix up the type of slider buns? Melt different types of cheeses under the broiler before topping for an even richer slider.
There are many varieties of sliders that can be with these basic ingredients, so have fun.
